Jonathan Woody, Guest Music Director, Bass-Baritone, Composer, and Curator

Bass-baritone Jonathan Woody is a sought-after performer of early and new music in New York and across North America. Previously, he has performed with Opera Lafayette in November 2019 in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Grétry’s L’Epreuve Villageoise (2014/2015), and Haydn’s Il Mondo della Luna (2003/2004). In increasing demand as a soloist, he has made appearances in recent seasons with historically-informed orchestras such as Boston Early Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Bach Collegium San Diego, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and New York Baroque Incorporated. He has appeared with Apollo’s Fire on a national tour of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in the role of Caronte and participated in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh, UK. He joined the Clarion Music Society and the English Concert on a four-nation tour of Handel’s Semele, covering the roles of Somnus and Cadmus. Woody is committed to ensemble singing at the highest level and is regularly featured as a member of the Grammy®-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street, where he has earned praise as “charismatic” and “riveting” from The New York Times for his solo work. On the operatic stage, he has joined Gotham Chamber Opera, New Amsterdam Presents, and Beth Morrison Projects for recent productions, and he was a 2015/2016 Vocal Fellow for American Opera Projects’ Composers and the Voice forum. He has recorded with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street under the Musica Omnia label and is featured on their Grammy® recording of Israel in Egypt. His musical pursuits extend beyond his voice, and in recent seasons he has been commissioned as a composer for groups including the Handel & Haydn Society and the Uncommon Music Festival. He enjoys a richly varied life in the arts based in Brooklyn, NY, and holds degrees from McGill University and the University of Maryland, College Park. More: https://www.athloneartists.com/artists/jonathan-woody/

Michele Kennedy, Soprano

Soprano Michele Kennedy is a versatile specialist in early classical and new music.  Praised by The Washington Post as “a fine young soprano with a lovely voice" possessing "a graceful tonal clarity that is a wonder to hear" (SF Chronicle), Kennedy's recent venues include Carnegie Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Bard Summerscape, Getty Museum, Lincoln Center, Powell Symphony Hall, and Washington National Cathedral. This performance marks her Opera Lafayette debut. In recent seasons, she has performed Bach’s Magnificat, St. John Passion, and Christmas Oratorio, Charpentier’s In Nativitatem, Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Mozart’s Coronation and C Minor Masses, and Faure’s Requiem. She has also presented The Monteverdi Vespers with Dark Horse Consort and Voices of Ascension, Bach Cantatas with American Classical Orchestra, and works of Caccini/Strozzi with Folger Consort. A graduate of Yale University and NYU, Kennedy is committed to working toward greater equity and representation for BBI, LGBTQ, and female voices across the field.  She aims to further this work from her living room while sheltering at home. A lover of the redwoods and bay vistas, she lives in Oakland with her husband, visual artist Benjamin Thorpe. More: https://www.michele-kennedy.com/about

Reginald Mobley, Countertenor

Particularly noted for his “shimmering voice, a voice which also allows lucid and pure levels” (BachTrack), countertenor Reginald Mobley is highly sought after for baroque, classical, and modern repertoire. leads a very prolific career in the United States, where he resides. In March 2020, he became the first ever programming consultant for the Handel and Haydn Society following several years of leading H+H in his community engaging Every Voice concerts. He is a regular guest with Cantata Collective, Musica Angelica, Agave Baroque, Charlotte Bach Akademie, Seraphic Fire, Quodlibet, Pacific Music Works, Bach Collegium San Diego, San Francisco Early Music Society, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, among others. In addition to this – his first performance with Opera Lafayette, his recent engagements have included concerts and recordings with organizations such as Miller Theatre (Columbia University), Blue Heron in Boston, Chatham Baroque in Pittsburgh, and Washington Bach Consort. In Europe, his career is expanding; in the UK, he has toured with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists for the last five years, and continues to do so, and has performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Academy of Ancient Music. He was also invited to perform with the OH! (Orkiestra Historycsna) in Poland and the Vienna Academy in Austria (Musikverein), and he gave a recital (with a Spiritual program) at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, toured with the Freiburger Barockorchester under Kristian Bezuidenhout, Balthasar Neumann Chor & Ensemble and the Bach Society in Stuttgart. More: https://www.reginaldmobley.com/biography

Patricia Ann Neely, Viola da Gamba

Patricia Ann Neely has appeared with many early music ensembles including, the Folger Consort, Smithsonian Chamber Players, the New York Collegium, the Washington Bach Consort, Opera Lafayette, Amor Artis, ARTEK, Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, the Boston Camerata, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, The Newberry Consort, The New York Consort of Viols, and Early Music New York, among others, and was a founding member of the viol consort Parthenia. For many years she was the principal violone player for Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity. She spent three years touring with the acclaimed European-based medieval ensemble, Sequentia on the medieval fiddle performing throughout Europe and North America, at festivals including, Oude Muziek - Utrecht, Bach Tage – Berlin, Alte Musik – Herne, Wratislavia Cantans - Poland, Music Before 1800, and The Vancouver Early Music Festival.  Ms. Neely began playing the viol at Vassar College and continued her studies, earning an MFA in Historical Performance at Sarah Lawrence College, with additional studies in Belgium with Wieland Kuijken.  She has recorded for Arabesque, Allegro, Musical Heritage, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Ex Cathedra, Classic Masters, Erato, Lyric Hord, and Music Masters labels. Ms. Neely has been a member of the faculty at the Amherst Early Music Summer Festival, the Viola da Gamba Society of America Conclaves, Viola da Gamba Society of both New England and New York workshops, Pinewoods Early Music Workshop and is currently on the faculty of The Brearley School where she teaches recorder, double bass and coaches an early string repertoire ensemble. Ms. Neely was the Executive Director of the Connecticut Early Music Society and Festival from 2012 until 2015.  Ms. Neely is currently the Chair of the Early Music America Taskforce on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.  

Adam Pearl, Organ

Award-winning early keyboard specialist and director Adam Pearl is in demand as a performer of both solo and ensemble music. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in Europe, South America, and Asia. He has been principal harpsichordist for Philadelphia’s baroque orchestra, Tempest di Mare, since 2005. He also performs with ensembles such as Chatham Baroque, the Folger Consort, the Catacoustic Consort, the American Bach Soloists, the Bach Sinfonia, Modern Musick, and various modern symphony orchestras. He has recorded on the Chandos, Dorian, and Plectra labels. A lover of Baroque opera, Mr. Pearl has directed numerous productions with American Opera Theater and Peabody Chamber Opera. From the keyboard, he has led performances of Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Cavalli’s La Calisto and La Didone, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, and Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Giulio Cesare, and fully-staged productions of Messiah and Jephtha. He is a member of the Historical Performance faculty at the Peabody Conservatory. Mr. Pearl holds the degrees of BM in piano performance and both MM and DMA in harpsichord performance, all from the Peabody Conservatory. His doctoral research was an exploration of the links between rhetoric, declamation, and the harpsichord music of the French Baroque. He is a laureate of the 2001 Jurow and 2004 Bruges international harpsichord competitions. More: https://peabody.jhu.edu/faculty/adam-pearl/

Aaron Sheehan, Tenor

A first-rate interpreter of Bach, Handel, and Mozart, Aaron Sheehan has performed with Opera Lafayette in Visitors to Versailles (2017/2018), Rameau's Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour, ou Les Dieux d'Égypte (2014/2015), and in Charpentier's Actéon (2012/2013). He has also performed with American Bach Soloists, Boston Baroque, Boston Early Music Festival, Calgary Philharmonic, Charlotte Symphony, Handel and Haydn Society, North Carolina Symphony, New York Collegium, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Music Works, National Symphony of Peru, Seattle Symphony, and Tafelmusik. He made his professional operatic début with Boston Early Music Festival as Ivan in the world première staging of Mattheson’s Boris Gudenow, for which Opera News praised his voice as “sinous and supple.”  Other roles for BEMF have included L’Amour and Apollon in Lully’s Psyché, the title role in Charpentier’s Actéon, Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Eurimaco in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Liberto/Soldato in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Acis in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Orfeo in Campra’s Le Carnaval de Venise and leading roles in operas by Cavalli, Weill, and Satie. Other staged performances have included Apollon and Trajan in Rameau’s Le Temple de la Gloire with Philharmonia Baroque, The Orpheus Project with New Zealand Dance Company, Eumete in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with Opera Atelier, Dom Pedro and Ottavio in Campra’s L’Europe galante for the Centre de Music Baroque de Versailles at the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, and Mr By-Ends The Pilgrim’s Progress with Gloriae Dei Cantores, and the title role in Gluck’s Orphée with Pacific Music Works. More: http://helensykesartists.co.uk/artists/aaron-sheehan/

Dongsok Shin, Harpsichord and Organ

Dongsok Shin was born in Boston, started piano lessons at the age of four with his mother, Chonghyo Shin, and continued studying with Nadia Reisenberg at the Mannes College of Music. He converted exclusively to early keyboard instruments – harpsichord, organ, and fortepiano – in the early 1980s. He has been a member of the internationally acclaimed baroque ensemble REBEL since 1997. He has appeared with American Classical Orchestra, ARTEK, Bach Sinfonia (Washington), Concert Royal, Dryden Ensemble, Early Music New York, New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Pro Musica Rara, and Washington Bach Consort, among others. He has accompanied Renée Fleming, Rufus Müller, Jed Wentz, Marion Verbruggen, and Barthold Kuijken in recital. He received international recognition as music director of baroque opera productions with the Mannes Camerata. He has toured throughout the Americas and Europe and has been heard on numerous radio broadcasts. Mr. Shin is well known as a performer, recording engineer, producer, and editor of early music recordings for Acis Productions, ATMA Classique, Bridge, Dorian Sono Luminus, Ex Cathedra, Helicon, Hollywood Records, Lyrichord, Naxos, and Newport Classic. He tunes and maintains early keyboard instruments for the Flintwoods Collection in Delaware, and in New York City for the Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Museum. His YouTube videos produced by the Met Museum, demonstrating their earliest known Bartolomeo Cristofori fortepiano, have garnered over 390,000 views. This is his first association with Opera Lafayette.

Yulia Van Doren, Soprano

Recognized by Opera as “A star-to-be” following her Lincoln Center debut, young Russian-American soprano Yulia Van Doren’s debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra was acclaimed as a “revelation... a ravishing lyric voice and an ease with vocal ornamentation that turned her into an enchanted songbird” (Toronto Star). For her last-minute step-in with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Plain Dealer praised Van Doren as an artist of “melting poignancy” and added, “To Van Doren, one could easily have listened for hours.” She performed in Opera Lafayette’s 2012/2013 performances of Charpentier's Actéon, and in the company’s modern premiere of Le Roi et le fermier by Monsigny (2011/2012) at Opera de Versailles, which is also recorded. Other career highlights include a tour of Handel’s Orlando with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra to the Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, and Tanglewood festivals; a leading role in Scarlatti’s Tigrane at Opera de Nice; and nationally-televised performances at the Cartagena International Music Festival with soprano Dawn Upshaw, an important mentor. Especially recognized for her work in the baroque repertoire, she has performed with the majority of the North American Baroque festivals and orchestras, and has the distinction of being the only singer awarded a top prize in all four US Bach vocal competitions. More: https://schwalbeandpartners.com/yulia-van-doren-soprano